Leicester’s Mads Hermansen on Enzo Maresca’s approach and talks with Kasper Schmeichel

Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen has opened up on the club’s storming start to the season under Enzo Maresca, who has rejuvenated the Foxes after relegation

It says everything about Pep Guardiola’s influence on English football that his influence has now stretched far beyond Manchester.

Manchester City have struck up a domestic monopoly since Guardiola arrived on these shores back in 2016. The Spaniard won his fifth title in six years last season despite the best efforts of his former right-hand man Mikel Arteta; and now another of his disciples is forging his own path away from the Premier League champions.

Enzo Maresca’s time at Leicester has been brief, but his impact has been seismic: his side are five points clear at the Championship summit after winning 11 of their opening 12 matches and have already been touted as the best team in second-tier history.

And while Maresca may have inherited plenty of the tools required to fashion Leicester into a team capable of returning to the Premier League at the first attempt, it’s his meticulous methods and unquenchable thirst for improvement which have concocted a winning formula unlike anything that Mads Hermansen has encountered before.

“He’s so good at giving solutions to his players,” the Danish goalkeeper told Mirror Football. “It doesn’t matter what the opposition is doing, he will always find a solution. As a player, that’s a fantastic feeling.

“I feel like no matter what is happening on the pitch, all 11 players know exactly what to do. Also on the training pitch he’s great, always explaining. He studies the game a lot; all the time he’s trying to develop.

“The way he’s detailed into the tactical part of the game, that’s what impresses me the most. All the players in the squad have this feeling, that we can all grow [under him]. He’s a fantastic manager.”

Hermansen was one of the nine players who followed Maresca to the King Power in the summer. He’s featured in 11 of the 12 league matches Leicester have played this term under the highly-rated Italian coach.

Swapping the Superliga for the Championship has been seamless for the 23-year-old, who was prised away from Brondby in the transfer window. He has quickly established himself as an integral part of the division’s leanest defence, shipping just seven goals in 11 games.